Slice of Life Volume One
by Acidgreenflames
Summary: Thundercracker and Sunstreaker ponder and experience human celebrations


**Important Information**

"Blah" Speaking

::Blah:: comm. link

' _ **Blah**_ ' bonded speech

'Blah' thinking

Astrosecond- 2.5 earth Seconds

Klik- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

Orn- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

Joor- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

Metacycle- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

Vorn- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

Stellercycle-30 earth months/2.5 years

Breem-slang for a moment/minute.

Night Cycle: star down to star up

Day Cycle: Star up to star down

Authors Note: Sooooo I was thinking we need a little bit of fluffy silliness between Run for your Money and the next story. (First chapter has just been finished and should be off to beta very soon!)

As always, thank you so much to Darkness_Rising for betaing

Disclaimer: I own only my OC's, nothing else.

Had anyone told him six months ago that he would be living on the _Ark_ , with Autobots and humans, Thundercracker was sure he would have laughed, then blasted the fool who would have the audacity to suggest something so outrageous.

Again, had anyone told him that he would be looking forward to his morning flights with his little human companion, Thundercracker was sure that he would have happily ripped the fool's still powered spark from their armoured chest. The thought of having a human, small and organic, with their weird little bodily fluids and sweaty skin inside his cockpit made his plating crawl.

Yet here he was, Thundercracker, a merciless, high born seeker turned killer who had seen eons of war, death and despair, waiting on a tiny little human with something akin to excitement.

Callie's bright blond hair caught the morning sun as it climbed into the blue sky, the light haloing around her head, her toothy grin beaming up at him.

"'Morning TC!" She sang, blue eyes bright, happy and looking at him in a way that only Callie could, seeing him more than just a killer or a seeker. Callie saw him as her friend, a hero even, and as the sentient being he was, more than just a soldier to be thrown into battle.

"Callie." He intoned gently, not one to be so cheery early in the morning, but a soft and small smile just tipped up at the corners of his mouth.

"Another good day to go flying." She chirped, reminding him of a youngling who was desperate to get into the sky but was yet to receive their thrusters.

His grin widened a little more, crimson optics brightened with excitement. "This makes for easy flying. If you want fun flying then I'll take you out when the weather is a little less favorable."

Callie frowned a little at that. "It's more fun to fly in bad weather?" She sounded dubious and hesitant.

"Thunderstorms are fun, good for first timers. Tornadoes might be a little out of your league." He playfully mocked as he bent to offer her his hand.

Callie frowned up at him as she stepped onto his hand, allowing him to lift her up. "You do _not_ fly in tornados."

"I assure you, I do." He grinned at her before leaping upwards, Callie clinging tightly to his thumb so that she didn't fall.

Engaging his thrusters, he took them a little higher, joy filling his spark at flying and Callie's whoop of joy encouraging him higher.

With Thundercracker transforming around her, Callie suddenly found herself safely in the cockpit of an F-15, the harness strapping her into the seat while the joystick worked on its own. Thundercracker's nose pointed up and he rocketed upwards, Callie's laughter echoed in his cockpit and solely for their enjoyment he barrel rolled hard before putting himself into a downward spin.

Blonde hair whorled around Callie's head as she shrieked with laughter, a noise she only made when they were flying; a noise she denied that she made at all.

Pulling out if his dive Thundercracker straightened out to rocket back into the sky once more, the G forces pressing Callie back into the seat while her small, frail hands gripped at the harness that held her still, Callie laughing the whole time.

"You," Callie wheezed out as she tried to catch her breath when they evened out to fly easy and straight. "You do not fly in tornados."

"I do." he laughed, his voice coming from all around her. "The weather on this planet is nothing but amusing, and your storm systems intense."

Blue eyes rolled and Callie shook her head. "You'll end up crashing one of these days." She chastised playfully. "And I will not help put you back together."

Thundercracker snorted, doubting that anything Earth could throw at him would be any worse than the eons of war he had faced and survived. Besides, thunderstorms riled him up more than any foreplay that Skywarp could manage; the static charge that lightning bolts left in the air would play and toy at his wings, leaving him with a charge that could only be settled by a quick, hard interface. But that was something Callie did not need to know about.

"Danny's birthday is coming up." Callie said suddenly, settling back into the seat, making herself comfortable. "I've asked the twins to help me. We have an old storage locker back home that has all of my uncle's tools from his garage days. The twins are taking Mia and Skyfire to go and get them all and Prowl has agreed to let us set her up a little garage in one of the empty bays. You know, for simple repairs, mostly mod work, or body work for the crew." Callie shrugged. "She always did really good body work and it will keep her busy. You know, idle hands and all that."

Thundercracker snorted and would have shaken his head if he could have. "You humans and all of your celebrations, they are so odd."

Callie paused, head tilting. "So, you guys don't have birthdays? Or creation celebrations? Or something."

Thundercracker banked hard, causing Callie to grip a little harder onto the harness. "No." he admitted. "There was not much our people would celebrate and those few celebrations we did have were only celebrated by the higher classes."

Callie frowned, her cheeks flushing in what Thundercracker had begun to associate with anger. "So…you've never had a birthday?" Her tone was scandalized, as though there was something so gravely wrong with not celebrating one's creation.

"I have not."

Callie frowned, brow crinkling in thought. "So, neither has Skywarp? Or Starscream?"

"No."

"Or the twins?"

"I would doubt it very much." Especially the twins, having grown up in the rings, and Thundercracker had heard the rumors of what happened in the rings.

"What about Optimus?"

Thundercracker's frame tensed around her before he relaxed. "Optimus is different." He said slowly. "Different from me, but also very different from any other Prime we have had."

Callie's frown deepened, feeling the sudden change in atmosphere, the way the seeker tensed around her. "How's he different?"

"There used to be a celebration for the Prime. There would always be a day of mourning for the one who passed, no matter how awful he was, and a celebration for the one that was chosen. Often it was the counsel who chose the new Prime, not the Matrix like it was supposed to, and every stellar cycle we would celebrate the rise of the Prime."

Callie paused, nodding a little. "So you would celebrate the rise of a new Prime." She stated. "Is there always only one Prime?"

"No. Back before the golden age, back in the age of creation there were thirteen Primes, but no one knows what happened to the other twelve. The only one who remained was the one chosen by the Matrix. But somewhere along the way the counsel stopped allowing the Matrix to choose its bearer since it always chose a mech or femme that was for the people. They started putting one of _their_ people in the position of power to maintain the status quo. Rumor is, the last Prime of the people was assassinated by his own council when he refused to force mechs into the mines."

Sadness filtered over Callie's face for a moment. "So they put someone in power that would force mechs into the mines?"

"They did, and that was where Megatron got his first foothold. He escaped the mines and went into the Pits, creating the Decepticons from both abused peoples. There is only so long that a government can abuse its people before the people push back."

Callie was silent for a long moment, picking apart his words. "So, how did Optimus become Prime?"

"After Sentinel Prime was assassinated there was a lot of discord and confusion. War had just officially began and more and more cities were being dragged into the conflict. It was during that time of confusion that Orion Pax accidentally came into contact with the Matrix, and it choose him to become the next Prime."

Thundercracker sighed, checking the time before he banked again, heading back to base. "The war should have ended when Optimus became Prime. He agreed to meet with Megatron, to settle it peacefully, and he would have given in to Megatron's demands. Optimus saw the need for change but by then Megatron had started to slip into that crazy need for power and wanted to destroy everyone who wasn't with us. By that point most of us were pretty mentally disturbed by having our cities destroyed so we went along with it."

Callie's hand reached out to gently pat the side of Thundercracker's cockpit wall, knowing about the guilt he carried for his part in the war. "So how was Optimus different?"

"He refused to allow the council to celebrate his rise to Prime. Instead he used the resources to help those in need, the poor and those affected by war. He helped move refugees into the safer cities, closer to Iacon."

Callie hummed, dark blue eyes narrowed in focus. "That's just….very sad."

Thundercracker ex-vented in an almost sigh. "It is." He agreed. "All of it."

Callie nodded and Thundercracker could see the cogs in her head working with a plan.

Thundercracker saw Callie off to what had become her normal morning routine over the past three weeks, a mix of normal on base duties, like the Autobots, and training, and Callie, like her cousins, had a schedule like clockwork, one Thundercracker could set his internal clock to.

After their morning flight she would shower and meet with either him or her cousins for breakfast before her shift.

Coming into the rec room for his morning ration Thundercracker glanced around and noticed that his energetic mate was suspiciously missing, along with Sideswipe. Helm shaking he reached into his bond with his mate.

" _ **Sky**_ _ **, w**_ _ **here are you?**_ " His voice was smooth and even, fighting back the irritation.

Crimson optics scanned the rec room for a place to sit, his frame tensing when he saw that Starscream was not here either, likely with the Prime, and his little human friends were already carrying out their shifts for the day.

" _ **Oh!**_ " Skywarp sounded guilty with even just that small word. " _ **Hey TC! I'm umm. With Sides."**_

Crimson optics rolled before they spotted Sunstreaker sitting in a corner with his back to a wall and looking extremely tense and uncomfortable. A small amount of relief helped Thundercracker settle and relax. The frontliner, no matter their differences, would not allow Thundercracker to be murdered by angry, vengeful Autobots.

" _ **Sideswipe,**_ " he said calmly as he started taking smooth, even steps towards Sunstreaker. " _ **Is in Canada right now with Skyfire, collecting things from a storage unit for Danny's birthday. If you are with Sideswipe**_ _ **then you are in Canada.**_ " There was a pause from the purple seeker, allowing Thundercracker to continue. " _ **But, you wouldn't have left the country without telling me, right?"**_

The pause continued and Thundercracker could practically see his little mate struggling with telling him the truth.

Love suddenly rushed through the bond and Skywarp's voice rushed through his head. " _ **I love you! I'm sorry! I love you! Bye! And I love you!**_ " The bond snapped shut before Thundercracker could reprimand him for leaving the country.

Crimson optics rolled and Thundercracker blew warm air out his vents in irritation as he took a seat across from the gold frontliner. Sunstreaker's cobalt optics flicked up and the corners of his mouth lifted a little in a small grin. "Thundercracker." He said a little formally, giving a small nod, an acceptance into his space.

Thundercracker took a sip of energon, watching Sunstreaker as he glanced away and squirmed a little, Thundercracker feeling a small amount of sympathy for the frontliner. He knew that having grown up in the pits, the frontliner likely suffered from youngling hood and into early adult life, and that he had been left emotionally stunted, making if difficult for Sunstreaker to make friends or even just be social. But Thundercracker also knew that Sunstreaker would not tolerate something like pity so he quickly squashed the feeling;

"I thought you were with Sideswipe to collect the things for Danny." Thundercracker offered, giving them something neutral to talk about.

Dark optics flickered back to the Seeker and Sunstreaker shrugged. "Sideswipe ended up switching his patrol with Hound so he could go. No one ever wants to trade comm's duty so," gold and black shoulders lifted in another shrug. "Here I stay."

Thundercracker nodded, taking another mouthful of his morning energon. "Humans are so odd with their celebrations."

Sunstreaker smirked and nodded his agreement. "They do, and they have quite a few."

"They even change by region." Thundercracker laughed a little, finding the whole thing amusing. "Although Callie was quite scandalized by the fact that I had not celebrated a spark day."

Sunstreaker snorted, taking his own mouthful of energon. "Danny was the same, she said that everyone has a _birthday_ and it should be celebrated." The finned helm shook, the smirk softening a little. "There is a holiday they celebrate during the winter that they call Christmas."

Thundercracker grinned a little, glad that Sunstreaker was talking with him and had not completely disregarded him. "Callie spoke of that one too. Something about gift giving and trees."

The black helm bobbed in a nod as his smirk turned into a grin of amusement. "And they hang strings of lights on the tree and, well if you believe what Danny says, everywhere else as well."

A deep chuckle bubbled from Thundercracker. "Callie implied the same. It will be interesting to see how Christmas turns out."

"I foresee lights everywhere." Sunstreaker grinned, taking a mouthful of energon.

The blue hued Seeker frowned. "I'm surprised you don't know more about Earth's traditions, you've been stationed with earthlings for quite some time."

Sunstreaker gave an unconcerned shrug. "Before now, I've had no reason to pay attention to their holidays. Sure I'd see the lights and the trees, get gifts from Sideswipe, but I haven't had the need or want to pay attention before. Things are…different now."

Thundercracker nodded in agreement. "They are."

Lost in thought for a moment, Thundercracker snorted. "Has Danny told you about All Hallows Eve yet?"

Sunstreaker smirked, clearly amused by the whole thing. "The celebration of the dead? She has, and it's nothing if not _adorable_."

Laughing at that the Seeker nodded. "Yes it is. I love how they believe that this is the only time of year the 'walls between worlds is thin, allowing the souls of the dead to return.'"

They both laughed at that, Thundercracker adding "I do adore that they used to believe that the only way these wayward souls would not come into your home was by offering food and sweets."

"And the only way to travel while these spirits are about is by dressing up like them." Sunstreaker laughed softly, finding the whole thing about All Hallows Eve hilarious, but not surprising from a little backwater planet like Earth.

Thundercracker sighed, still finding the whole thing funny. "Do you think, had this not been Earth, there could have been some truth to it?"

Sunstreaker's helm cocked, optics darkening as he thought about it. "Do I believe in ghosts? I don't know. Maybe?" He paused and looked down, smiling bitterly at his cube. "There used to be stories back on Cybertron, usually after big battles, of dead mechs being seen in the halls."

Thundercracker nodded, becoming solemn. "Or things moving on their own or going missing."

Sunstreaker paused before snorting. "Yeah, things like that, and haunted bases."

The tension released a little when the Decepticon laughed, earning a dark look from Cliffjumper and Brawn. "We've had a few like that, where anyone stationed there swears they've seen ghosts."

Sunstreaker's head shook as he chuckled. "Didn't think you guys would have those stories too. Always thought you guys would have been _above_ all that."

Thundercracker couldn't help but to bark a laugh. "Hardly. Skywarp used to scare new Decepticons with stories of the weird things that would happen during our night periods and get the whole lot of them into a worried state. Then he would overdo it and scare himself into nightmares."

Sunstreaker gave Thundercracker a blank look before the amused smirk crawled back into place. "He didn't."

Taking the last mouthful of his energon Thundercracker nodded. "Oh he did. He certainly did."

Laughter burst from Sunstreaker, deep and musical, and Thundercracker thought that he needed to do that more often.

"So, has Danny told you what Lucy wants to go out as for All Hallows Eve?"

The finned helm shook in the negative and the Seeker's amused smile returned. "She wants to be the princess of fighter pilots."

Cobalt optics brightened in surprise, widening. "What?"

Thundercracker nodded. "Complete with a tutu."

Laughter erupted from Sunstreaker again, prompting Thundercracker to continue. "And she wants the flight suit to be," and he raised his hands to use his fingers for air quote "'Purple like Skywarp'."

"No." Sunstreaker laughed, not quite believing the truth.

"Yup. And she wants to bring Sky with her, as her own plane. Ironhide agreed to take the girls out to trick or treat and Lucy wants him to tow Skywarp behind him and pretend he's made from cardboard."

Sunstreaker snorted. "Prowl will never allow it. But a Princess fighter pilot?"

"With a tutu." The seeker added with amusement.

The finned helm shook, amusement crawling through the frontliner's EM. "Simply amazing these little humans."

Thundercracker nodded in agreement. "I don't know if that is the word I would use, but amusing none the less. Well, we do have duty now and should be going, and I have a feeling we will be dragged into whatever festivities Callie has planned for Danny's spark day."

Throwing back the last of his energon Sunstreaker nodded as he stood to follow the Seeker to his assigned duty, falling in step alongside Thundercracker.

Thundercracker sat in one of the previously empty bays that once upon a time would have held a medical team on the _Ark_ _,_ but the bay was long abandoned by the Autobots. The twins had dragged in one of the older couches from the rec room to press up against the wall and Thundercracker was perched on one of the arms of the couch, allowing his wings to stretch out down the side of the sofa.

Next to him Sunstreaker was carefully examining the art supplies that Danny had special ordered for him; each paint, brush, piece of charcoal, sketch book, pencil and canvas had been specially designed to be large enough for the Cybertronian to use.

Sunstreaker had been so shocked by the gifts and Danny's claim that the fact he had never had a birthday or gifts was a travesty, that he had barely managed to thank her. Danny had beamed up at him, pleased that she had found something to his liking, telling him that Sideswipe had helped her pick them out and that the art supplies had been the closest that Sideswipe and Danny could find that were remotely close to the supplies Sunstreaker used back on Cybertron.

Behind them Skywarp, Sideswipe, Mia and Danny were playing a video game that Danny had bought Sideswipe for his birthday; after all, being twins, if one got gifts so did the other.

" _ **You are still in so much trouble."**_ Thundercracker smirked as he watched Sunstreaker lift a paint brush and very gently touch the bristles, and the bond was suddenly filled with guilt and amusement.

Skywarp paused from the modified Guitar Hero they were playing, his crimson optics flashing at his mate's back. _**"Look I said I was sorry! Besides, look how awesome this place will be when Danny gets all the boxes unpacked."**_ The beat from the game picked up and Mia began to sing into the microphone again, off key but not terrible.

The boxes that Sideswipe and Skywarp had gone to collect contained all the last belongings from Danny's father and every picture, every tool that Danny had grown up with were finally back in the same home as she lived.

The little human had been so surprised and happy that for once, she had been reduced to a stunned silence, causing the Cybertronian's to think they had broken her. It hadn't been until Danny found a photo of her father that she cracked a little, tearing up and lungs hitching as she fought to not cry. What they had done meant so much.

Her sisters laughed at her before pulling her into a group hug whilst the seekers and twins looked on in confusion.

" _ **Aaaaand!"**_ Skywarp sang through the bond as he tipped his guitar down and activating some kind of 'super' thing in the game, glossa peeking out in concentration. _**"Danny said that once she gets this place up and running she's going to do body work for us."**_

" _ **Since when do you care about body work, at all?"**_

" _ **Since I know it will aggravate Megatron."**_ Skywarp shrugged, trying to ignore the shudder of fear their former master's name caused. They had yet to meet him again in battle and Thundercracker feared when that moment came.

It was a light tap at his ankle which brought worried crimson optics down to the floor and Callie's blonde head. Giving him a small smile she easily stepped on to the offered hand so that she could sit on his knee, watching Sunstreaker examine his next art supply.

"What's got you worried?" Callie asked, blue eyes searching his face for any hint of what could be bothering him.

Dark blue optics slid from the painting supplies to Thundercracker, Sunstreaker giving the seeker a sideways look.

"What makes you think I'm worried?" The blue hued seeker huffed, wings twitching a little.

Giving him a flat look, Callie's eyes narrowed. "Because you get a crinkle between your optics when you're worried."

Wings rising up behind him Thundercracker tried to sound huffy. "I do not!"

"Yes you do." Sunstreaker said firmly, dark optics back on his gifts again, now reading the label on the back of the paint. "And your wings do that twitch thing that Prowl's do when you're irritated."

The look Thundercracker gave Sunstreaker was plainly ignored. "I'm fine Callie. Nothing to worry about tonight."

The human gave her seeker protector one last shrewd look. "Right." Her face brightened, dark eyes looking to one of the boxes by his thruster. "Well, since Danny seems to be sharing her birthday with the twins I told her she could share it with you and Skywarp too." Sunstreaker smirked at the woman's words as Thundercracker's wide crimson optics shot down. "Soooo I got you a birthday gift as well." She stated in a matter of fact tone.

"Callie you didn't have," Thundercracker was quickly interrupted by the blonde on his knee.

"I know I didn't have to, but I did." Blue eyes glanced down and then back up to Thundercracker's surprised face. "It's that one, right there." She indicated with a nod of her head to the small box by his thruster.

Sunstreaker stopped fiddling with his gifts and turned his full attention to the seeker, intense dark optics and passive face calmly watching the whole scene play out. Crimson optics shot to the frontliner for help, where he found nothing but Sunstreaker jerking his chin to the gift at his pede.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, Thundercracker reached down for the box, sitting it on the couch between him and Sunstreaker.

Carefully leaning over, and ignoring the fact that both Callie and Sunstreaker were watching him, reminding him that he hated being centre of attention and so very grateful that Callie had waited until the others had started playing their game before she gave him the gift.

Carefully pulling apart the small box Thundercracker pulled the lid off to find a small stack of data pads. Uncertain optics flashed down to Callie and her worried face.

"Sunstreaker helped me get these together. I...I know you could have easily downloaded these yourself, but now they are all in these fancy cases."

Black servos carefully reached into the box and pulled the first data pad out, the back of the pad had been carefully engraved with beautiful carvings and the word MAPS etched into the top of it.

Callie scratched at her arm as Thundercracker carefully turned the data pad on, his fingers running over the back, feeling the etchings that had carefully placed there.

"Sunny did the engravings." Sunstreaker rose a brow at the human for shortening his name, but being in the _birthday_ spirit he let it slide. "And he helped me load everything onto the data pads. There are maps of Earth on that one. There's also fiction," her fingers ticking off the different data pads she had helped put together for him. "Science, biology, which I know is a kind of science, but I felt there was a lot you need to catch up on so it needed its own data pad."

Thundercracker smiled at her, shaking his head and letting Callie continue. "There's also non-fiction, movies and pop-culture. You know, things that everyone should know if they live here."

"I was _so_ fortunate to get a crash course on pop culture when Danny and Callie put that one together." The finned helm shook. "Memes are still stupid."

Callie grinned at Sunstreaker for a moment before turning the bright, hopeful smile up at him. "So, do you like it?"

A small smile spread across grey lips as Thundercracker ran his fingers over the glass of the data pad. "I love it." He assured. "Thank you Callie. No one has ever gotten me anything like this before."

She positively beamed up at him again, making Thundercracker feel like the hero he surly wasn't.

Crimson optics lifted to Sunstreaker, trying to ignore how he simply didn't deserve this. "Thank you as well, Sunstreaker. This is a lovely gift and the etchings are beautiful."

The golden frontliner had gone back to his own gift and gave a little grunt of acknowledgement, but Thundercracker could feel the heat from his frame at the praise. "You're welcome. I –uh, I put the Vosian skyline on the history data pad. I hope you like it."

Something in Thundercracker's spark squeezed at the thought of a home that was long gone, and it touched him that the Autobot had done something to help ease his homesickness. Crimson optics dropped back to the box and Thundercracker carefully pulled out the one labelled history and smiled.

"Thank you." He vented softly, liquid suddenly filling his optics at the sight of home and its spiralling towers; the kindness and beauty of the gift something Thundercracker did not think Sunstreaker capable of.

Another shrug and a bashful look from Sunstreaker was all Thundercracker got as a response. "It was no problem. It was fun to etch again so…yeah, you're welcome." He muttered again.

Thundercracker smiled down at his gift again, something he was so happy to share with Skywarp, fingers brushing over the etching. "I guess not all human celebrations are so weird." He said lightly, despite how suddenly emotional he felt.

Skywarp poked at the bond, ensuring that his mate was okay and was quickly soothed, allowing him to go back to playing with his friends.

Sunstreaker's dark optics lifted to meet Thundercracker's, suddenly bright with hidden emotions and the seeker knew the frontliner was feeling the same. "This is one of their better ones." He admitted, much to Callie's confusion.

Thundercracker, for the first time, truly smiled back at the Autobot, believing that just maybe they could pull this whole peace thing off. After all, if he and Sunstreaker could be friends what else could happen?

"It is." Thundercracker agreed with a smile and suddenly feeling lighter and more hopeful, he turned on the pop-culture data pad to find out what in the pits a meme was.


End file.
